A Guide on RedHat Linux By [Rad-Etnic] - New Users - Preface This text focuses on : Linux history, RedHat Linux installation, useful commands, Linux filesystem structure and ppp configuration. I also decided to include a short description of the already started Gates - Torvalds competition. Inside the text you will also find several spots where to buy RedHat linux and many other distributions. I'm waiting for comments and critics .- What is Linux? Linus Torvalds, a student of the Helsinki University in finland, worked on a MINIX version written by Andy Tenembaum in order to create a compatible system with the Intel X86 Micro. At first, Linux was written in Assembler lenguage, but when the time of writing drivers arrived, Linus started to use the C lenguage. By the end of August 1991, Linus had already written LINUX 0.01 which could be used in diskettes and had a small file system. The official release of Linux was two months later, when the operating system was able to run a shell (Bash) and the today-famous GCC compiler. Not much time passed when a lot of computer lovers mailed Linus with millions of comments, ideas, solutions, etc..No doubt the proyect was successful. GNU license was really important since it makes the operating system be free, including its source. The license lets other programmers modify the source for fixing or improving it. Nowadays we can notice the result of a single MINIX proyect. One big disadvantage is that there isn't any phone number where to call for trouble and so on. But thanks to the world people, there are many places where to get support.The internet is a big source for this and what really helps are books. I would recommend going onto IRC (Internet Relay Chat) for some good online 24hs help. Bill Gates vs. Linus Torvalds As everyone knows, Bill Gates turned famous thanks to his Operating Systems such as DOS, Windows 3.x and Windows 9x. He is the richest man in the world, that would mean that he has got no fear...but he does. The fear started in 1991, when Linux was officially released. A small percentage of UNIX and Windows users started to test this new operating system and the sound of the name 'Linux' was starting to be heard in conferences, meetings, and even street. Nowadays there are millions of Linux users all over the world and Bill Gates next to his entire 'Microsoft(r)' corporation are fearing 'Linux'. This revolutionary operating system does even come with new computers. The difference between Linus and Bill Gates is that Linus did never want to make any profit out of his OS and Bill Gates did and 'DOES'. Where can i get Linux? As we already know, Linux is free. This is thanks to the GNU license. But if we want to buy it instead of download it, we will have to pay for the cds and whatever else you get. For example, there exists a pack from INFOMAGIC which brings all 5 Linux distributions, ( RedHat, Slackware, Debian, Suse and Caldera), which has got a price below 50 American dollars. Remember that with any distribution you buy you have to be given another cd with the source. So if you want to buy RedHat Linux you will have to pay for two cds including the source. On the other side if you dont want to buy it and you wish to download it there is an official ftp: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions where you can download any of the 5 distributions. One important thing that i dont want you to figure it out by yourself is that linux isn't 10-60 Megabytes, it can take from 200-600 or so. So if you are thinking in downloading it with a 56k dialup connection or less..then i would recommend you to buy it ; it will be cheaper for you. A good url where to buy linux would be : http://www.cheapandbytes.com . This site has got good programs for a cheap price. Why RedHat and not another distribution? RedHat has become some kind of standard for new users between the other distributions. That is one of the reasons i wrote the text focused on RedHat distribution. RedHat also brings some pile of good HOWTOs (Online Manuals) that will make your stay be more comfortable. The RPM (RedHat Package Manager) is another of the great RedHat utilities. By downloading a software with the RPM extension, you will be able to install it and configure it with just a single command. (rpm -i file) RedHat Linux installation For installing Linux you will have to make 2 partitions. Make one be of a size between 700-800 Mb, and the other of around 32-50 Mb. The first partition will be used for installing Linux files, called File-System and the second one, which is smaller will be used as RAM, Linux calls it SWAP. If you dont want to loose all your data when deleting and making partitions, there are programs such as Partition Magic (Shareware) or Partition Resizer (Freeware) which let you manage your partitions without loosing any DATA. Once we are done with the partitions, there are two easy ways of starting the installation program. These are by booting up directly from the CD ( You would need to modify your drives booting sequence to 'example D: A: C:' ). The other way would be by booting up DOS and running the x:\dosutils\autoboot.bat in your CDROM drive. Once the installation program launches, depending on which version of RedHat you have, it will or wont, ask you wether you are using a color monitor or not. After that, we need to select the type of keyboard we are using. Next, a screen should pop up asking you if to enable PCMCIA support or not (If you have any PCMCIA device, then select YES). Next, you will be asked the source where the Linux files to install are at, in this case if you bought the cd then select 'Local CDROM' and if you downloaded it, 'hard drive'. After you select the source, you will need to choose wether to Install or Upgrade. You will choose install. Once we are done with the last step, you will be asked if to use FDISK or DISK DRUID in order to manage the partitions for where to install Linux (I recommend a lot DISK DRUID unless you are really familiar to FDISK). A complete list will show all of your partitions next to their Size, Type and Mount point. What should be new in here is the 'Mount Point'. The Mount Point consists in how the partition will be called when using Linux. We will need to set a 'Type' of 'Native' and a 'Mount Point' of File System to the big partition you made. For doing this just select the big partition you created for the Linux Files and press the 'Enter' key to modify its properties. Where it says Mount Point, we will type '/' and where it says Type, we will select Linux Native. We will do the same with the other small partition we created but instead of '/' , we will leave the Mount Point blank and we will choose instead of Linux Native type, SWAP. By now you decided that the large partition will be called / in Linux and it will be where all the Linux files (File System) will be installed. Also you made so that the small partition gets to be extra RAM for Linux to use. If you would like to access your MSDOS or FAT32 (Windows) partitions from Linux, then you should select a mount point for each and leave the Type as it is. For example : I would put the mount point '/win' to my Fat32 partition, and the mount point '/dos' to my MSDOS partition. After finishing the step above, we will be asked to select which partitions to format. In order to install Linux we will need to format the '/' and the SWAP partitions. Just forget about your '/win' and '/dos' partitions right now if you want to keep your DATA alive. Ok, so here is where you wanted to be from the beginning. You will have to choose which Packages to install and which to dont. As you are a new user, i recommend to select the INSTALL EVERYTHING item at the bottom, so you can test every single piece of software that comes with your new Linux System. If you are an expert user, then you can select the INDIVIDUAL PACKAGES option. Now the System will start to copy all the files to our hard drive. This should take between 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on if you installed everything or if you installed single packages. Once the installation program finishes copying the files, it will start to configure the X-Window system. It consists of a GUI (Graphical User Interface), as Microsoft Windows does have. For being able to use this interface, the installation will ask you to select various things as the type of mouse you have, your video card, etc.. A screen asking you to select your mouse pops up, then the installation will try to detect your video card ; if it doesn't, the installation will give you a big list from where you will have to choose yours. It also gives you the option to select 'unlisted card' (This means that your video card is not listed). If we had to select 'unlisted card' , we will be prompted to enter some information about the card. Once we get done, the installation program will copy the X-Window server (By default Xfree86) to our hard drive and then it will ask us to select our Monitor. If our monitor is not listed, instead of 'unlisted card' we can select 'custom'. After this, we will have to select the resolutions to be used by the X-Window server and then configure the timezone. We will be listed the daemons to be started when booting Linux, and i recommend to leave them as they are by default. A daemon is a background program in charge of a service our system will provide to users. Next, the system will try to configure a printer. Now, the X-Window configuration has finished. We will be asked to type the password for the root account. The root account is the one that has got all the priviliges and is superior to all the other accounts. What is really important to remember is that the password you select must follow some rules in order not to be guessed by anyone : - Should be of at least 8 (eight) characters long. (Example : xxxxxxxx) - Mix numbers and letters. (Example: aww244ti) - Don't use any words/numbers related to yourself (Example : Phone Number/Zip Code) Finally LILO (Linux Loader) must be configured. Its a program whos job is to boot up your Linux. It will let us boot Linux from different partitions or hard drives. LILO is also compatible with other operating systems such as Windows, OS2 or even NT. We will have to choose where to install LILO. If you dont have any other boot manager such as System Commander or the one OS/2 has, then select to install it in the MASTER BOOT RECORD. We are now ready to boot our recently installed RedHat Linux distribution. Take any diskette out of your drive and press enter in order to reboot. When the LILO prompt shows up, press the TAB key in order to get a list of the possible systems to boot. If we type 'LINUX' the system will start booting. After the system boots, if no errors happen, you will be prompted with a LOGIN and PASSWORD request in a black screen. Now in order to log in your system, you will have to type 'root' in the LOGIN request, and the password you sat in the installation program for when it asks for PASSWORD. If everything goes ok a prompt will appear ([root@localhost /]). Congratulations , you have succesfuly logged inside your system. Useful Commands Command What it does Example cd (Change Directory) Will change the working directory cd /usr/me cp (Copy) Copies files cp file /usr/me2 ls (List) Shows a list of files in a directory ls -al /root mkdir (Make Directory) Makes a directory mkdir stuff man (Manual) Instant help about a command man ls kill (Kill) Send a kill signal to a process kill PROCESSID who (Who) Will show a list of logged users who adduser (Add a user) Will create an account for a new user adduser john passwd (Set Password) Will set a password for an account passwd john deluser (Delete User) Removes an account deluser john pwd (Print Working Directory) Shows our path pwd rm (Remove) Delete files rm john.txt mv (Move) Moves a file mv file.txt /usr/ mv (Rename) Renames a file mv file.txt new.txt rmdir (Remove Directory) Deletes an empty directory rmdir john lpr (Print) Print files lpr john.txt FileSystem Structure Directory Description / Root directory /bin Here is where most of the System Binaries(Programs) are kept /dev All the system device drivers are kept here /etc Here is where all the configuration files are kept /sbin This directory keeps programs the admin will use (You) /home Inside /home , is a directory for each user/account on the system. (/home/john) /lib Program libraries that are mostly shared are kept here /proc Is a temporal directory, files running in memory are put here /usr A directory used for configuration and programs /var Contains administrative files Point to Point Protocol Configuration (PPP) As you will need to configure PPP in order to connect to the internet using dial-up, i decided to post two ways to do it. The first way is really simple and is by using the X-Window GUI and the second way is a bit more complicated and needs to be configured by using a terminal. As you are a new user, i will explain you the simple way by using the X-Window mode. If you configured the X-Window GUI in the installation program succesfuly, then type 'startx' in order to start the X-Window. If some error shows up when typing 'startx', then type 'Xconfigurator' in order to run again the configuration tool for the X-Window GUI. Once the Graphical User Interface shows up, it will depend on the Window Manager ( There are different programs called Window Managers that let the user interact with the system by a set of menus,etc..) you use to find the CONTROL PANEL program. It consists in a not so wide bar with some icons representing the MODEM, the RPMs, the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION, etc.. Click on the MODEM icon in order to set the port where your modem is installed. In Linux, com's dont exist, so i will list a table of what they are called below : DOS/Windows Linux Com1 cua0 - ttyS0 Com2 cua1 - ttyS1 Com3 cua2 - ttyS2 Com4 cua3 - ttyS3 Note: Since version 2.2.0 of the Linux Kernel, cua ports are called ttyS. Once you configured your modem, click save in the window and go to network configuration. If you cant find the icon, then open a terminal and type 'netcfg'. Now once you got the NETCFG program opened, where it says nameserv type the DNS of your dial up server, (Your ISP, internet service provider must have given you 1 or 2 numbers called DNS). If your server didn't give you any numbers, call your ISP and ask for them. Once thats done, get into the 'INTERFACE' tag, and then click on 'ADD'. A little menu will show up and you will have to select PPP and then click on 'OK'. You will be asked to enter some information such as the phone number to call, your id and password. Now click on SAVE or OK and you will be back into the INTERFACE screen. Ok, you have set your Dial-up connection. From now on anytime you wish to connect to the internet, start the X-Window GUI by using the 'startx' command, then get inside the NETWORK CONFIGURATION tool or type 'netcfg' in a terminal. Get inside the INTERFACE tag, and click on the ppp connection you added. Then on ACTIVATE for connecting, and for disconnecting, DEACTIVATE. ======================================================================= I cant believe i finished. Critics and Comments > radetnic@hotmail.com http://www.olm37ock.com/ Finished Peace -[Rad-Etnic]- radetnic@hotmail.com This file were downloaded at: http://www.wi2000.org/